SAN ANGELO — Republic Services is looking to amend the recycling portion of its trash contract with the city of San Angelo because of rising costs of collection, transport and processing.

Republic asked the San Angelo City Council on Tuesday to consider alternative recycling methods to replace curbside recycling. The city is planning to schedule public hearings to gather input on what to do next.

In 2016, the city of Abilene considered implementing a curbside recycling program at the request of residents. However, the plan was abandoned when an insufficient number of people signed up for the service, which would have required an additional fee.

“The cost has increased to process the recycling material itself, (and) we have an added problem of transportation of the recycled material to processing centers,” said Jeremy Miller, city of San Angelo solid waste contract manager.

Republic had an agreement with a recycling company to accept material from the curbside recycling program, but it expired Aug. 1. If a new contract is not approved, the closest facility that could take recycling materials is in San Antonio.

In addition, China, which once processed more than 50 percent of the world's recyclables, tightened restrictions on what it will accept and is now taking less than 10 percent, Republic said.

As a result, the cost of processing recyclable materials has risen 500 percent.

China used to accept materials with a 5 percent contamination rate — meaning the amount of trash mixed in with recyclables. Now China is accepting only0.5 percent contamination. China is also no longer accepting any mixed paper, such as junk mail and loose paper. Mixed paper is over 50 percent of what an average consumer recycles.